Hebrides 26: Around Lemreway

After several days of solid driving, we decided to explore the area around Lemreway in more detail.  It was baking hot with a clear blue sky, so there wasn't much incentive to travel far anyway.  I attempted to go fishing in a couple of local lochens, but the lack of wind meant that I was eaten alive by midges.  I also managed to jump down from a wall onto what I thought was heather, only to discover that there was a large boulder hidden under the greenery which my heel encountered at full force.  It wasn't only the sky which was blue at that point...

I've included a few pictures taken in Lemreway itself (or Leumrabhagh, as it is in the Gaelic).  We were staying in the white house on the left in the first shot.

There were plenty of houses for sale in the vicinity, including this des res which is in need of a little TLC.

We saw baths turned into all sorts of things - usually related to feeding or watering animals - but I particularly liked the ingenuity involved in turning one into a letter box.  In the tropical heat it was one of the few locations offering shade, which presumably explains why a local moggy had taken up residence.

I never did find out why some of the sheep wore a kind of triangular collar.  Possibly something to stop them getting their heads stuck in fences or gates?  If anyone knows what these devices are for, I'd be intrigued to find out.

The two commonest birds around the village were wheat ears and starlings.

My grandmother used to tell me that alcohol is the best cure for an injury (or pretty well anything, in fact) so we decided to call in at the Loch Erisort Inn for some medicine.  Guess what?  It had run out of beer!  Well, almost.  There were only a few bottles left, one of which went down a treat after the trials of the day.

By late afternoon my heel had swelled up, so we decided to head back to the house in order to give it a chance to recover.  It had become quite colourful by the time I plucked up enough courage to take my sock off...

Ouch!